hi guys, am new to firewire and I will be ordering a SPITFIRE by this week for the weaker wind swells near me. Hope to clarify on the usage of the Volume Calculator. E.g. I am 5'8 and 65 kg and I consider myself intermediate (low or early entry). The cal gave me a min of 21.5 and max of 27.9. As specified by Firewire, the max volume will be a reference to the optimum volume of my hybrid / pure stoke boards. Since the SPITFIRE is a performance hybrid and as a rule of thumb, it should be less user friendly than a hybrid / pure stoke. Therefore, I should slightly adjust this max volume (add a few more) to identify the performance hybrid board that suits me. Am I right to make such an assumption ?

hi guys, am new to firewire and I will be ordering a SPITFIRE by this week for the weaker wind swells near me. Hope to clarify on the usage of the Volume Calculator. E.g. I am 5'8 and 65 kg and I consider myself intermediate (low or early entry). The cal gave me a min of 21.5 and max of 27.9. As specified by Firewire, the max volume will be a reference to the optimum volume of my hybrid / pure stoke boards. Since the SPITFIRE is a performance hybrid and as a rule of thumb, it should be less user friendly than a hybrid / pure stoke. Therefore, I should slightly adjust this max volume (add a few more) to identify the performance hybrid board that suits me. Am I right to make such an assumption ?

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I am living in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. But we get to surf the monsoon months in the east coast from Nov - Feb (Tioman, Cherating, Kijal just to name a few).
When the season is off, we usually travel to surf destinations like Bali, Phuket or some fun size spots in Sumatera.

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It has me a little high I think. I'm 46yoa and close enough to 200lbs. I'm reasonably fit, but not fit by the standards of a strong everyday surfer. I'd call myself an intermediate. I suspect my volume range woould be 35-36 at the bottom end, and 45 at the top, although I find the Dom at 41.5 or whatever it is has ample float in pretty much the smallest waves.

I'm offering that constructively by the way as I reckon the concept of the refinements is absolutely fantastic. A lot rides on a pretty subjective assessment of fitness and skill to make it work. We all know some hopelessly overestimate, and others under rate themselves.

yeah guys, the volume calculator is a starting point meant to help people "get in the ballpark." It will never be perfect for everyone unfortunately, but that's just the way it goes. It is a super useful tool though in my opinion.

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I would say for something like the HellRazor you'd be looking at standard HPSB volume, for the Hellfire, similar to maybe slightly more, for Spitfire an extra couple of litres then then a few more as you head into the Pure Stoke range.
Certainly no rules, I'm riding a lower volume hybrid than HPSB at the minute but find them to paddle similarly due to the increased volume under chest on the shorterboard.

I think you have to use the calculator as a guide and make your own adjustments based on preference and instinct because everyone surfs different breaks and has different preferences with their boards. The calculator does give a nice ball park range to be eyeing up boards in though.